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CHAPTER II.

PROPOSITIONS OF EXISTENCE.

A ‘Proposition of Existence’, when in normal form, has, for its Subject, the Class “existing Things”.

It Sign of Quantity is “Some” or “No”.

[Note that, though its Sign of Quantity tells us how many existing Things are Members of its Predicate, it does not tell us the exact number: in fact, it only deals with two numbers, which are, in ascending order, “0” and “1 or more.”]

It is called “a Proposition of Existence” because its effect is to assert the Reality (i.e. the real existence), or else the Imaginariness, of its Predicate.

[Thus, the Proposition “Some existing Things are honest men” asserts that the Class “honest men” is Real. This is the normal form; but it may also be expressed in any one of the following forms:–

Similarly, the Proposition “No existing Things are men fifty feet hign” asserts that the Class “men 50 feet high” is Imaginary. This is the normal form; but it may also be expressed in any one of the following forms:–

(1) “Men 50 feet high do not exist”;
(2) “No men 50 feet high exist”;
(3) “The Class ‘men 50 feet high’ does not exist”;
(4) “There are not any men 50 feet high”;
(5) “There are no men 50 feet high.”]